Thursday, July 16, 2009

Oregon birders explore another birding trail

The recent completion of the Willamette Valley birding trail adds a fifth element to the Oregon Birding Trail system. This trail includes 12 loops -- Columbia, Portland, Tualatin, Heritage, Yamhill, Willamette, Luckiamute, Alsea Falls, Santiam, Fern Ridge, McKenzie and Big River -- and details about each loops is available as a separate PDF.

A species checklist notes more than 420 species observed in the valley and shows the most likely area to see each species; for instance, "a" means agricultural fields/pastures, and "b" means brushland/brushy edges. A recent article in The South County Spotlight highlights birds seen on the Columbia loop, such as Willow Flycatcher (below).